Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sun in all its brilliance rained down what heat it could, with not even a cloud in the sky to give brief respite. Galacie stared blankly ahead, her pale skin smartly hidden under swaths of cloth. A mental note was made to purchase a proper hat at some point, one with a large brim. The suspicious glances she received went unnoticed as her eyes darted across the street, trying to find the grocery store.

The training compound had food enough, sure, but their lack of chocolate was disturbing. She was in her second year as a trainee, and had taken this weekend trip to town more than once before, but this was the first time her usual place had run out. It certainly didn't help matters in how she dreaded having to make such a trip during the summer. Desperate measure had to be taken though.

She sidled across the street, pausing in front of the billboard; Galacie could never resist reading new information.

"You, you there." A man's voice came from behind, which was easily ignored. There was enough daily hubbub that the voices tended to blend together and were naturally tuned out.

"Hey, you busy?" The voice persisted, a tap on her shoulder finally pulling her attention. "This here is my flyer."

He tapped his finger on the billboard, a paper advertising a need for cooking assistants. Had he known the level of her chef skills, he likely would have paid her to leave. As it was, he seemed to have a particular mix of urgency and vivid excitement, sweat dotting his forehead, "You get paid for your time, get to play with food. Don't get an opportunity like that often eh?" He winked. Or perhaps he was trying to blink the sweat out. Either way, any person with a drop of common sense likely would have bolted just by the sheer creep of his sales pitch.

Galacie shifted as she remembered her manners - it was rude to not partake in a conversation. "Oh, uh, I was.. looking for chocolate, good sir." And oh how stiff her conversation was.

"I've got plenty! This way, this way! Invite a friend if you've got one." He had broken out into a grin, then seemed to peer past her to eyeball the next set of hands to drag in.

The abrupt whirlwind of energy from their now-employer took her by surprise as he swept them into the kitchen, leaving them to their own devices. He hadn't departed nearly enough information! What did he expect out of such a dish? What ingredients could they use? The introduction of her newfound partner rang a bell - introductions! She could handle introductions!

"I am Galacie," A quick glance at his uniform, and she felt comforted by the familiarity of the tell-tale jacket and boots, "And apparently fellow trainee."

Freeing herself of her clothed hood-wrap, Galacie held the flyer back up and quirked a brow, "I've not tasted such a dish before, these snowcones. I have heard of them though, where they melt in the sun and taste of syrup like fruit."

Violet eyes took stock of the shelves as she warmed herself to the task, "Melts in the sun? A rather broad category, I should think. I mean.. cheese melts in the sun. Cheese and mashed fruit? In a cup? Doesn't sound particularly appealing." She frowned. The one time she tried to make a full on dinner (before being promptly banned from repeating such an endeavor) resulted in both the overcooking and under cooking of multiple dishes (often simultaneously in the same dish), a strange sour taste in others, and enough smoke to have fogged the room.

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained! She felt oddly cheery about their task at hand.

"Try what? Melted cheese and mushed fruit?" Galacie laughed, but immediately considered the option. She had almost no sense of competition, nor was she the type to be goaded into a challege for the sake of it being a challenge. She was, however, always open to new experiences, and she had never tried cheese with fruit.

"Very well, for the betterment of science and cooking!" With a sudden, matter-of-fact determination, she began to rummage through the available fruits. Their employer was surprisingly well stocked, but with summer and all the recent harvests, she knew that she shouldn't be so surprised.

She paused her hunt as Jeong-jae offered his own suggestions, considering her own past experiences with watermelon (all quite pleasant, thank you very much) and realized that the consistency would fair much better when crushed compared to other foods, "Watermelon? That's fairly brilliant, actually. Though the melon alone wouldn't be terribly unique. Perhaps if we mixed in.." She held up the round, brown, furry fruit in her hand, pausing. The trainee read plenty of facts, but food hadn't really been a category she'd studied on, despite a passing interest in it, "Uh, other.. fruit. I'm sure it'd have more of a burst to it."

Galacie couldn't locate a watermelon, but she was sure their employer would provide them with funds to fetch one. She did find a honeydew melon, strawberries, some weird red berries with spines comming off them, green apples (though she preferred red ones herself), small round green fruits in a bunch, and of course cheese. She pulled a few herbs off the shelf for good measure; at least she knew what mint was. Strange red flakes? Sure, why not.

When looking at the pile she had created, she peeked back at the black haired trainee and gave a shrug, "Figured we could taste test and compare sweetness to find some sort of balance. Though we should probably go find a watermelon first, huh. They do a lot of trade here in town, so I'm sure they'd have watermelons. It's not a terribly uncommon food."

Galacie snapped her fingers together, "What about honey? Oh! Or boiled sugar to make the syrup?" She might not know much on food, but she had stalked enough chocolate to see other candies in the process to know that boiling sugar would help change the consistency of things. Her face was beaming; being able to play around freely with things wasn't generally encouraged in their world. Trainees were to follow instructions, do things a certain way, follow certain rules. Here, they had no rules. It was strange, but she found herself enjoying the ability to make so many decisions, strange though they may be.

As the duo were equipped with their employer's permission, they set out to find Alfred. She was surprised that they would be trusted with coin so readily; they were literally strangers he had picked off the street. Though Jonathan seemed to have a fairly eccentric aire about him anyways, so perhaps it wasn't so strange coming from him.

Jeong-jae's question caught her by surprise, and she took a moment to peer at him from the corner of her eyes. Although he was shorter than her, the up-swept nature of his hair seemed to make up for the lost inch. His eyes appeared to match his hair at first glance, but she noted they had a rich brown hue to them.

"Well," Galacie didn't mind sharing, and the fellow seemed pleasant enough, "An academy would cost quite a fair coin, and they teach you from books. Things I can learn on my own. I thought I'd find more things of interest here. I feel like teachers in schools tend to.. disuade constructive analysis and innovation."

She gave a casual shrug, then remembered meeting her new dormmates. They had exchanged reasons for joining then, too, "I think most join to escape something, or for the pay. For them it's a necessary way to live, and I applaud them for their courage. I don't really have anything brave or exciting to tell, sorry." The trainee gave a little laugh then, "I wouldn't even know how to make a difference if I did find new information. I think everyone here is still learning about themselves, though. So maybe one day."

They made a turn in the road, and Galacie flushed as she realized her monologue was longer than intended. "What about yourself? You're creative enough to have gone into marketing or open your own shop, so what brought you to these grounds?"

((No problem! G'luck with the trip!))

Galacie laughed at Jeong-jae, his fist in the air and his energy contagious, "Snowcone revolution, a strange first step towards the reinvention of 3D gear. But sure, why not." She laughed again, shaking her head but feeling optimistic.

Her grin became a polite smile as they approached their destination, and her polite smile gave way to a small, surprised little twitch at the man's abrupt outburst. Her face still a polite mask, she twisted her fingers nervously behind her until her fellow trainee whispered his very valid concern.

She swallowed hard, gathering her courage and relying all too heavily on her rigid, neutral persona, "Jonathan gave us coin for these watermelons; yours specifically, he said, and I suspect he knew that you sold the very best in town. Surely one wouldn't withhold debt for much longer when he clearly holds you in high respect."

It wasn't exactly untrue; she drew what conclusions she could from their meager knowledge, and she liked to believe it was Jonathan's point of view. It just had the possibility of being as untrue as it could be true. The alternative was that Jonathan knew he could take advantage of Alfred, but she didn't feel the need to voice this particular option.

She continued, "With the purchase of your melons, the debt at least would not increase as he pays a fair price. He is currently seeking development of a new bit of.. merchandise himself, to be completed today. And I can personally assure you repayment once development is complete and it sells." Galacie glanced at Jeong-jae, giving a reassuring smile, then turned back to Alfred, "I have full confidence that it will be a success."

"O-oh, haha, yes, indeed." Galacie pasted on that porcelain smile once more as they finished their transaction. She had fallen silent, happily letting Jeong-jae take the lead in the conversation now that the apparently not-so-imminent crisis was over.

The meeting over and watermelons at hand (a feat that would have caused a breakout of sweat before coming to the training compounds for certain), they rounded the corner away from the shop. As soon as they were out of sight, Galacie sank to her knees right there at the corner of the road, her fingers shaking nervously. "I should have realized, not sure why I didn't, of course that wasn't true fury was it." She slapped her hands over her face as if to hide her shame, "Oh gosh I hope I wasn't too rude. That could have really impacted their business relationship. Ruined lives. No no, don't over-think this. It's fine. It's done and over with."

And just like that, Galacie took a deep, shaky breath, closed her eyes for but a moment, then stood up in one swift motion, her shoulders squared and her face cooly trained once more. At least she had withheld the panic until after the moment; surely that counted for something, despite the suddenly less than impressive display. On the plus side, she was, if anything, flexible to changes.

"Right, as you say, back to work!"

As if in an unspoken agreement, Galacie let Jeong-jae handle the watermelons as she began boiling water, testing a mixture of sugars and honeys to see how the consistency changed. Three pots later and she finally had one that wasn't a black smoking brick, nor a slimy jiggle, but a smooth, gliding syrup-like substance. She set it aside to give it time to cool, and pulled out the cheese with a sudden, daring smile, "I recall something about melted fruit cheese?"

At first, Galacie didn't know what to make of being in a competition. It wasn't exactly something that happened very often with her. Having grown up as an only child with parents who specialized in professional networking, Galacie wondered if perhaps this is what it would be like to have a sibling. She wouldn't have minded growing up with a Jeong-jae brother, though it was hard to picture. Would a sibling have dragged her outside, or perhaps sat with her in the comforts of the library stacks? A brief pang of longing hit her as she recalled the feline who kept her company during those long hours growing up. She missed feeling the soft fur and the rumbling purr under her fingers.

Pulling her attention back to the challenge at hand, she thought that at least it looked promising in terms of entertainment. The prize at the end baffled her though; she had no idea what to order if she won. What did people usually order? She suspected the completion of chores, but those she had generally completed well enough already. Perhaps she could use it on behalf of Terry Tuggle, who seemed to always need assistance, despite his numerous assistants already.

Galacie stared suspiciously and the goop in the bowls before them, holding her spoon with trepidation. "Right, here goes.."

The mere color, a swirl of puke green-yellow was enough to make her stomach flip and her mouth run dry. She mirrored Jeong-jae and scooped a healthy helping on the spoon, determined still to give it a try. Although they began simultaneously, Galacie froze at the first bite. The goop sat precariously on her tongue, and she was afraid that if she moved, it would attack even more tastebuds. She tried to swallow, but her throat refused to cooperate. Violet eyes scanned the room in a quick motion of panic before spotting the rag to her right. She discretely slipped the rag off the table, demurely bowed her head, and quietly spit it out.

Although she felt shame at her failure, she still felt the urge to laugh at it. She watched with amazement as Jeong-jae downed his portion, and when he finished she did laugh, shaking her head, "I've no room to argue at my complete and utter loss. If you wanted to finish this.." She jokingly pushed her still-full bowl at him, "Otherwise, name your price."

While waiting for his order, she pulled the large bowl of sugar-syrup closer to herself to test if it had cooled down enough to handle. It was still hot, but not enough to instantly burn anymore. If Alfred left the mixture in the cellar overnight, it would chill enough to thicken further and hold their fruit mix together better. But they still needed a preliminary concoction, so it would fit their needs for now.

Hair and eyes? Galacie quirked a brow, thoroughly confused. Having her hair down in the kitchen was a recipe for disaster. Or at least a recipe for very stringy food, long as it was. And closed eyes certainly would prove fatal should she attempt the oven. She deducted that these would be temporary changes as she doubted he'd risk their employment status, and quickly attempted to file through potential outcomes.

She thought back to her observations of other trainees, some pranks, some friendly slaps on the back.. Galacie had no idea what potential pranks might be as she never took particular interest in them. Did he want to change her hairstyle? Did she even brush her hair today? A moment of panic at the thought of unbrushed hair that would surely defy gravity to spring from its coiled prison.

While she wasn't exactly the type to back out on her word, she did try to side-step the issue, an instinct based on her nervousness at the new social interaction, "Isn't that technically two orders?"